Daytona Beach oceanfront ice rink might return for holiday season

Saturday

Sep 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Al Smith and the city have a tentative deal to bring ice skating back to the Bandshell area for the holiday season.

EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEANSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — Most people aren't thinking about Halloween yet, much less Thanksgiving and Christmas. But for weeks at City Hall, there's been talk of holiday decorations, light displays, Christmas trees — and ice skating. Local promoter Al Smith comes in on that last one, the ice skating. Smith and the city have worked out a tentative deal to bring ice skating back to the plaza area in front of the Bandshell from shortly before Thanksgiving until early January. The city and Smith brought an ice rink to the beach last year for the first time, and it was enough of a hit that Smith has pushed to make it an annual event in the Boardwalk area overlooking the ocean. Last year the rink — which had real ice — drew more than 12,600 skaters. Smith hopes to bump that up to 14,000-15,000 people this winter. "We can create our own holiday tradition locally," said Smith, who has organized events such as the New Year's Eve party on Main Street and the recent gathering of food trucks on City Island. "I think we can grow it every year and add more activities." Smith, who's vice chairman of the city's Downtown Ballough Road Redevelopment Area Board, was the only one who responded to the city's request for proposals for an ice rink next to the Bandshell. Now he and top city officials are putting the final touches on a five-year deal that city commissioners are slated to vote on at their regular meeting next week. "The city manager has reviewed it in concept," said Deputy City Manager Paul McKitrick. "It looks like we're on track." The arrangement city commissioners agreed to last year was only for one holiday season, and it involved the city contributing $166,000 for the rink and another $10,000 for Smith's event coordination, marketing and business sponsorship solicitation. The new deal would span five years, and would put the risk and expenses on Smith's shoulders. The plan would be for the city to pay nothing into the rink, and then split all net revenues in half with Smith. City commissioners did recently vote to spend $38,500 to upgrade the Bandshell's electrical system, but that will benefit both the city and Smith. Smith had hoped to give the city a small profit last year. His goal was to return the full $166,000 for the rink along with another $4,850. When everything was tallied, though, Smith was left with a $55,175 loss and he returned just $137,000 of the city's money. His biggest blow came on expenses to keep the ice frozen. Smith said he was told he could use an electrical source, but it turned out there wasn't sufficient power. He wound up renting a generator and paid for diesel fuel to run it around the clock for more than six weeks. His original $5,000 utility estimate turned into a $37,288 cost. The electrical upgrade to the Bandshell should take care of that last problem, and Smith is planning adjustments to not only make the venture more profitable, but also, he hopes, more fun. Smith is planning on a 4,800-square-foot rink again, but this holiday season he wants to greatly expand his tent size. Last winter, the tent was big enough to cover the rink and provide a small amount of space to pay admission, rent skates and lace up seated in one of a few plastic chairs. His new plan is to use a 7,400-square-foot tent, and add a good number of tables and chairs. He also wants to sell hot chocolate, coffee and soda as well as snacks such as popcorn, chips, funnel cakes, candy bars and hot dogs. To make the experience more fun, he plans to decorate the inside and outside of the tent, and have a disc jockey playing music on the weekends. He also plans to slide the rink closer to the Bandshell to more directly connect with the entrance to the Ocean Walk Shoppes. "We want to be more interactive with the Bandshell, where we might have movies and concerts," he said. He's also planning to adjust his hours and admission charge. The charge last year to rent a pair of skates and use the rink all day was $10. This year he plans to bump that up to $12. To pare his operating costs at slow times, he would open later Monday through Thursday this year, welcoming skaters from 4 to 9 p.m. On Fridays he would be open from 4 to 10 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays his hours would be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Those hours would probably change to 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week from Dec. 15 through Jan. 4 when kids are out of school for their holiday break. He'd like to be open a week longer than last year, from Nov. 16 through Jan. 7. If commissioners support his idea, he'll hire Daytona Ice Arena in South Daytona again to have its employees run the rink and snack bar. He would also line up sponsors again to help cover his costs. All of the details in the tentative contract will be up for debate among city commissioners next week. Smith feels it's a solid proposal. "I think this can give people a reason to come down there," Smith said. "It'll put the 'e' in the entertainment zone." The Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has agreed to help market the rink with some sort of "holidays at the beach" focus, Smith said. Like last year, the goal is not only to give people something festive to do, but also to get cash registers ringing at a slow time of the year on the beachside. "It's economic development," said County Chair Frank Bruno. So far, it sounds good to at least two beachside merchants. "It had a really positive impact on our store last year," said Jim Murro, manager of Cold Stone Creamery in the Ocean Walk Shoppes. "I've been here 10 years, and I've seen some dog slow winters. Our business was up 200 percent last winter over the previous year." Tim Kostidakis, owner of Beach Bazaar on State Road A1A, said he didn't notice any spike in his business last winter. But he said he supports anything that helps other beachside businesses, including those that are tenants in A1A property his family owns. In addition to the ice rink, the city and county plan to put up decorations and lights again in the beachside core tourist area. A tall, artificial Christmas tree the county owns will again go up in front of the Ocean Center, Bruno said. "I think it's a great thing we need to keep building on and promoting," Bruno said. "Anything we can do to enhance the experience of residents. Why should everyone have to go to St. Augustine to get in the holiday spirit?" The city is also planning some additional holiday events downtown near Beach Street and in the Midtown neighborhood. The city is negotiating with someone for what will happen downtown and hasn't released details. The city is organizing events in Midtown beginning Dec. 1 that include a decorating contest, toy drive, health fair, Christmas parade, "step show" and gospel extravaganza.

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